Abstract
While it has long been acknowledged that water penetration into RC members under fatigue loading conditions will reduce their fatigue resistance, the influence of such water penetration on RC members subjected to freezing conditions has not yet been explored. This study evaluates the compressive and splitting tensile strength of concrete cylinders, as well as RC beam flexure properties, via static loading and fatigue testing carried out on specimens under controlled ambient temperature and moisture content conditions. The results showed that while dry concrete was unaffected by ambient temperature, water saturated concrete specimens showed reduced static strength as well as a reduction in the number of fatigue failure cycles under normal temperature conditions. However, those same saturated concrete specimens showed an increase in static compressive strength under low-temperature (freezing) conditions, even though no increase in fatigue failure cycle number could be confirmed based on incremental static strength testing. Furthermore, the flexural behavior of RC beams under water saturation conditions showed load carrying capacity and fatigue resistance reductions under normal temperature conditions, but increased load carrying capacity under low-temperature conditions. Finally, while it was revealed that the fatigue resistance of normal and low-temperature specimens were comparatively the same with regard to the number of fatigue failure cycles, there was a change in the fatigue failure mode.
